The snow is piling up faster than a Shinkansen (bullet train) in Niseko! In the last week, the upper-mountain base has increased from zero to 1.3m, & it’s still dumping heavily! This is the best early start to the season in recent years, so let’s hope it’s a good sign. Niseko opens it’s lifts tomorrow. For daily updates & photos, keep an eye on the Niseko Now! page on snowjapan.com

Niseko Hirafu village with icing on top

Niseko Annapuri base

The Japan Alps are also scoring nicely from this cold siberian blast, but havent had quite the as much snow as Hokkiado – yet. Dean Ervik is now writing the Nozawa Now! reports – check them out at snowjapan.com.

Here’s a photo from Dean (The cams are just a white-out at the moment)

And this just in from Dean (his caps!)

IT JUST STARTED PUKING HERE TOO! QUITE LOW TOO. ALL THE TV CAMS HAVE HEAVY
FALLS. YAMABIKO IS A WHITE OUT…WITH FLAKES FALLING. SLEETING IN THE
VILLAGE.